President Meloni’s video message for the ninth edition of ‘La Piazza – Il Bene Comune’

Dear Marcello, dear Marco, dear friends at Affaritaliani. Good evening to everyone. You know how sorry I am not to be with you this evening in Ceglie Messapica, a beautiful town that, as you know, I am quite familiar with, in the equally wonderful Itria Valley – a place I love very much and feel a special attachment to. Some of my best times have been spent there and I’m a regular visitor to the area. For nine years now, Ceglie Messapica has hosted the event ‘La Piazza’, where I have been a guest several times in the past and which has now become one of the main forums for in-depth analysis and debate on the Italian journalism scene. You are in the heart of Puglia, a fiercely proud land that is deeply bound to its identity. It has been in the international spotlight over the last few days, thanks also to the Mediterranean Games being held in Taranto, representing an extraordinary opportunity for the South and for Italy as a whole as well as being yet another chance for our nation to show it can organise major global events to the highest standard. I am pleased that development in the Mezzogiorno is one of the main topics you have chosen for this edition. The Government intends to t